Adjustable flat car

ABSTRACT

An adjustable length railroad flat car having slideable body bolsters resting directly on the center of the rail trucks and adaptable to slide along two side sills so as to be able to carry heavy vessels or structures of varying lengths directly on the rail trucks.

United States Patent 1191 Barnard May 28, 1974 ADJUSTABLE FLAT CAR986,981 3/1911 Hem et al 105/393 In entor: Be' jam n R. Ba na d,Minnetonka DeLay 280/ B Mlml- 3,365,211 1/1968 [73] Assignee: The MaxsonCorporation, Ramsey, 3,618,969 11/1971 Glassmeyer 280/80 B Minn.

[22] Filed: July 27, 1972 Primary Examiner-Drayton E. Hoffman [2]] App.No; 275,747 Attorney, Agent, or FzrmNe1l B. Schulte [52] US. Cl /393,105/358, 105/367,

280/80 B, 280/405 R [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl 861d 3/16, B61d 5/00,8611 01/00 [58] Field of Search 105/358, 360, 367, 393; An adjustablelength railroad flat car having slideable 280/80 B, 81 R, 404, 405, 407,415 B, 5 C, 5 body bolsters resting directly on the center of the rail6/ 3 A trucks and adaptable to slide along two side sills so as to beable to carry heavy vessels or structures of vary- [56] References Citeding lengths directly on the rail trucks.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 799,905 9/1905 Holbrook 105/360 6 Claims, 6Drawing Figures A- 1 I f 1 L 1': -------===-=-:I I =r=|== l wavw 1ADJUSTABLE FLAT CAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION on the load and thesesaddles rest one each on two subsequent rail flat cars. Such anarrangement has a number of disadvantages. Since the load is carriedgenerally near the center of each car in order to maintain balance andequal load distribution on the trucks of each car there results alimited range of lengths available for loading. The range becomes evenmore limited as the load approaches the full capacity of these cars. Inaddition, concentrated loads of this type produce excessive stresses incars designed for distributed loads.

Another difficulty arises from the fact that with the load carried ontop of the loading platforms the overall height produces a number ofload clearance difficulties. With large loads this arrangement oftennecessitates circuitous routing of the train in order to avoid lowbridges and the like. This high loading also increases the danger ofupset since the center of gravity is carried unsuitably high. Yetanother difficulty is produced when the train traverses sharp bends.Since the long load itself stretches over the chord of the bend it isnecessary to mount the load on pivoting bases and comes the aboveindicated difficulties as described below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, my invention contemplates carryinglarge long loads on a single flat car which is adjustable in length toaccommodate varying length loads. The car is comprised of two side railsor sills which carry slideable box members resting directly over therail trucks. The load is carried in saddles which rest between the sidesills on bolster members carried between the box members. In this waythe load is carried directly on the rail trucks and there is no liveloading at all, thus eliminating vertical flexing. Furthermore, theentire load is carried down low between the side sills thus lowering thecenter of gravity and alleviating the right of way clearance problems.Since-a single car is used the load mountings can be fixed in placewithout the necessity of fore and aft adjustments, the chording effecton curves being eliminated. It may therefore be seen that it is anobject of my invention to provide an improved railroad flat car forcarrying large long loads which is adjustable in length to provide asafer, simpler, less expensive, load carrying capability. Furtherobjects and advantages will become apparent in the following descriptionand drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a top view of the railroadflat car of my invention showing primarily the frame structure of thecar itself. The car is shown mounted on trucks but the trucks are shownonly schematically for simplicaity and clarity.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the car of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view of one end of the car with one of the side railsshown partially in section to better indicate its construction.

FIG. 4 is a detail sectional side view showing the sliding box memberand the body bolster.

FIG. 5 is a detail sectional view of the car as viewed from the endshowing in particular the sliding box member and the body bolster.

FIG. 6 is an end view of the car with a load thereon, the side sillsbeing shown in section to facilitate a showing of how the load iscarried by saddles directly over the body bolsters.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring simultaneously toFIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 the general configuration of the railroad flat carof my invention is shown. The structure primarily incorporates two sidesills running the entire length of the car which are comprised of boxtype girders 17 in the center shaped somewhat thicker near the centerthan at their ends. Extending out from the box girder sections 17 areI-beam shaped extensions 13. Extensions 13 pass through four box shapedmembers 15 which box shaped members are in turn welded to a pair of bodybolsters or cross members 11 and 12. The side sills are held in place bya number of reinforcing girders numbered 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,48 and 49 in the drawing of FIG. 1. The particular arrangement of thereinforcing members is not critical to the instant invention and otherdesigns may be equally suitable. For the purposes of the instantdescription, however, an arrangement is shown which has been found towork well in locating the two side sills and maintaining them completelyparallel.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, it may be seen that each of the l-beamshaped extensions 13 has a central vertical member 21 with a series ofholes positioned therethrough. A pair of spacer blocks 22 and 23 arewelded to the inside of each box 15 as shown in FIG. 3. Holes aredrilled therethrough and pins 14 are inserted through the holes 50 inextensions 13 and the holes in blocks 22 and 23. The center sections 21of the I-beam extensions 13 are carried entirely by pins 14 so that oncea pin 14 is inserted, extension 13 is held generally clear of the insideof box 15. Pins 14 are provided with a bevel 24 so as to narrow down aportion of them for easy insertion in the holes through blocks 22, 23and I-beam vertical members 21. An extension 32 is provided on each pin14 which is long enough to permit the pins to be driven out by hammeringon the end extension 32. The length of the portion 32 insures that bevel24 will be clear of hole 50 in member 21 while it is still possible tohammer on the extended portion 32. Upon removal of pin 14, once bevel 24clears hole 50 I-beam 13 comes to rest inside box 15 thus relieving thepressure on pin 14 permitting easy removal and reinsertion. It is, thus,a relatively simple matter to relocate box 15 along extensions 13 tochange the overall length of the car. The increments of change aredetermined by the number of holes 50 and their spacing and may be at anyconvenient distance desired. In the preferred embodiment the holes arespaced in multiples of six and twelve inches although this is notconsidered to be a limiting factor.

Two pins 14 are used to secure each box 15. This is preferable to asingle pin arrangement due to the fact that large torque moments areinduced in each box 15 due to the vertical eccentricity of coupler loadsrelative to the side sills. Consequently, large torque loads aregenerated on each box 15 which could distort box 15 if only one pin wereincorporated. With the arrangement shown the torque moments are easilyresisted by the dual pins 14.

Each box member 15 is securely welded to the end of a body bolster.Suitable top gussets 26 are welded in place for additional strength andbottom gussets 28 are also added as shown in FIG. 5 for even morestrength. In the preferred embodiment gussets 28 are separated by threereinforcing plates 32a, 33a and 34a. Body bolsters 11 and 12 are eachprovided with a cylindrical bearing 16 on the bottom which bearing ridesin a lubricated cylindrical inset in the trucks 30.

Trucks 30 are shown only schematically in the drawlugs and comprisestandard railroad trucks well known to those skilled in the art. Theembodiment of my invention is equally applicable to any type of truckfrom 37 in a manner well known to those skilled in the art.

The load is mounted as low as possible in order to increase clearanceand lower the center of gravity as discussed earlier. Toward this endspecially shaped saddles are employed such as shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6an end view of the load, which, in this case, is a steam reheater 60, isprovided. A saddle 51 is formed in a shape suitable to carry the load 60nestled down between the two side sills directly on top of body bolster11. A similar saddle is used over bolster 12. The load is secured inplace by means of cables 53 which are run around the load from anattaching ring 54 on one side of saddle 51 to a tension adjusting turnbuckle 55 on v the other side of saddle 51. Saddles insure that the loadsupported above the tracks the railroad flat car of my invention ispositioned underneath and pins 14 are removed so that body bolsters l1and 12 may he slid back and forth along extensions 13 to a positionexactly underneath saddles 51. In this way the load may be carried atthe most ideal positions possible. When these locations are establishedpins 14 are then reinserted in two axle up to sixteen axle varities.Since the weight of the load is carried directly on the body bolstersand the holes 50 as shown in FIG. 5 and secured in place by means ofwashers 34 and cotter pins 36. Small holes 56 are provided in eachsaddle 51 which are aligned with holes 57 in gussets 26 so that thesaddle may be positively held down by horizontal pins driven through theholes 56 and 57.

In the preferred embodiment it has been found desirable to insure thatboth pins in each box bear the weight equally. To achieve this objectivethe spacing of holes 50 has been held to a tolerance of 5/1000 of aninch. The pins themselves are constructed from hardened alloy steel andbear on holes 50 in a 2 inch thick side sill. The diameter of the pinsin the preferred embodiment is approximately three and one half inchesalthough this dimension is not considered critical to the presentinvention. Air brakes are connected by means of a flexible hose 62 asshown in FIG. 3 which readily adapts to the various positions of truck30. A car built according to the teachings of the instant invention wasmade to be adjustable from a minimum length of 35 feet to nearly 55 inlength providing great versatility.

I claim:

1. An adjustable length railroad car comprising in combination:

a pair of side sills of a length corresponding to the maximum lengthdesired for the flat car said side sills spaced in parallel relation byreinforcing cross members extending between said side sills generallynear the center of said side sills and said side sills comprisinggenerally box cross section girders near the center portions thereof andI-beam cross section shaped girders at the ends, and

body bolsters slideably attached to the ends of said side sills andpivotally mounted on railroad trucks so as to carry said side sillsthereon said bolsters having a pair of generally vertical shear platemembers welded to each end thereof between which said l-beam shapedportions of said side sills slide to permit the length of the car to beadjusted and further including a pair of pins through each pair of shearplate members and the corresponding side sill therein to locate saidbolster longitudinally.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said vertical shear plates areconnected together at their top and bottom edges to form acircumferential member about said sills.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including load carrying saddles shaped tofit between said side sills and directly on said body bolsters.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said shear plate membersincorporate spacers inside them to fit snugly about the vertical portionof said I-beam shaped ends of the side sills.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 including load carrying saddles shaped tofit between said side sills and directly on said body bolsters.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 including reinforcing gussets welded betweensaid body bolsters and said shear plate members.

1. An adjustable length railroad car comprising in combination: a Pairof side sills of a length corresponding to the maximum length desiredfor the flat car said side sills spaced in parallel relation byreinforcing cross members extending between said side sills generallynear the center of said side sills and said side sills comprisinggenerally box cross section girders near the center portions thereof andI-beam cross section shaped girders at the ends, and body bolstersslideably attached to the ends of said side sills and pivotally mountedon railroad trucks so as to carry said side sills thereon said bolstershaving a pair of generally vertical shear plate members welded to eachend thereof between which said I-beam shaped portions of said side sillsslide to permit the length of the car to be adjusted and furtherincluding a pair of pins through each pair of shear plate members andthe corresponding side sill therein to locate said bolsterlongitudinally.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said vertical shearplates are connected together at their top and bottom edges to form acircumferential member about said sills.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1including load carrying saddles shaped to fit between said side sillsand directly on said body bolsters.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 in whichsaid shear plate members incorporate spacers inside them to fit snuglyabout the vertical portion of said I-beam shaped ends of the side sills.5. The apparatus of claim 4 including load carrying saddles shaped tofit between said side sills and directly on said body bolsters.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 5 including reinforcing gussets welded between saidbody bolsters and said shear plate members.